Moroccan police have arrested seven Islamic fundamentalists for trying to bathe at a public beach in accordance with religious custom, an Islamic spokesman said Sunday.

The arrests took place at Mehdia, north of Rabat, Saturday after police had banned the use of the beach to fundamentalists for traditional bathing, during which both men and women swim in the sea with their bodies almost entirely covered.

Interior Minister Ahmed Midaoui was earlier quoted in a Moroccan newspaper as saying Moroccan beaches could no longer be reserved for Islamic fundamentalist bathing.

The detained seven were members of an officially unrecognized Islamic fundamentalist group called Al Adel Oua El Ihssane (Justice and Good Deeds).

Their spokesman told AFP the seven had appeared in the local prosecutor's office Sunday - RABAT (AFP)